Welcome

The Rice University History Department understands its function to be twofold: to create knowledge about the past through research and to disseminate historical knowledge through publishing and teaching. Underlying these functions is the conviction that by confronting the past in a serious way we will broaden understanding of the universals of the human condition and deepen understanding of the local and personal.

At the same time we provide instruction in broadly applicable skills, such as logical argument, clear writing, and research ability. Because research, publishing, and teaching are mutually supportive, we attempt to bring each ingredient into as many student experiences as we can. Our faculty of twenty-five offers interactive instruction based on these principles to approximately seventy-five undergraduate history majors and about thirty-eight graduate students. To find out more about the opportunities in history at Rice, please explore the surrounding links.